BLADE & BASTARD NOVEL HC (2025)

Scale's dungeon exists in infamy as a vast maw of unknowable depth, containing monsters and legendary treasure. But the dungeon itself isn't the whole story; after all, what would a place like that be without adventurers willing to delve into it? Trace the dungeon's beginnings with the tale of the free knight Sezmar, who leaves his knightly order and gathers his party to adventure for the first time. Follow the son of a shoemaker, who barely survived an encounter with the red dragon, as he collects a motley band for a dodgy job. Experience Orlaya's first adventure with her new companions after escaping the yoke of her old clan.

Within the dungeon, a famous weapon is nothing more than a basic blade. Even a broadsword that's gutted a dragon can be reduced to shattered steel. Devastated, Garbage seeks out a replacement for her beloved sword...but what weapon could possibly match her? An old blade, sharp as diamond-the return of a legend. As ever, the dungeon's maw yawns wide to swallow foolhardy adventurers, and Iarumas's party continues to delve for treasure, for corpses, and for answers. One day, a member of Raraja's former clan catches up to him and dangles a tantalizing proposition: in exchange for clues about the rhea girl's whereabouts, Raraja must go into the dungeon alone. What could await him but a dark, lonely death? What awaits Garbage but a jagged, broken sword? And what slumbering legends might awaken in the blackest depths of the dungeon?